In The Shadow of a Reaper
by Starstruck Cortana
Summary: As Commander Shepard retreats from the spotlight after the Reaper War, a new threat has surfaced. Something is lurking in the shadows, and it now stalks the dark corridors of the ruins on Therum. But as Shepard has gone into hiding, a new hero must rise to the challenge of protecting the galaxy until the famous Commander re-emerges. [OC heavy, established chars will appear later]
1. Chapter 1

**MASS EFFECT: IN THE SHADOW OF A REAPER**

* * *

_It's three years after the Reaper War, the galactic community is still recovering from the harsh beating it took from a merciless, all encompassing foe. _  
_Nividia Kalrass, a Turian veteran and ex-fortune hunter has arrived on Therum per request from her old friend and employer Faron Mel. It seems the Volus has a problem: the Alliance has locked down the Prothean Ruins here due to a supposed monster that has been terrorizing archaeologists and researchers alike. This predicament is creating quite the red mark in Faron's otherwise black book. _  
_In a desperate attempt to save his dwindling business, Faron bargains with Nividia to hunt down the monster in exchange for a large sum of credits and bragging rights._  
_Nividia has no idea she's about to face off against an evolutionary terror in the darkness of Therum's ancient ruins._

* * *

**CHAPTER ONE**

* * *

Three years after the end of the Reaper War, ruins of the Reapers stilled floated aimlessly in space, and others found their great husks dotting the surfaces of numerous planets that they had assaulted. They served now as reminders - that there was always something unexplainable and wholly unknown watching from the dark corners of the galaxy.

Therum was no exception, three sovereign-class Reapers still lay dead and abandoned on the surface, one had collapsed through the old Prothean structures and now was jutting out of the ground, half buried in a canyon of a grave.  
Nothing remained of Nova Yekaterinburg, the once proud capital of Therum. The Reapers had decimated it and had harvested the population there rather quickly, they had only remained due to a few hundred civilians running underground to escape the sentient warships and their horrifying army.

Though many of the people down below had either been caught or died in a horrible fashion, Therum continued to attract visitors after the war was over. People often told ghost stories: frightening tales of the people lost in the caverns of the old Prothean ruins returning from the afterlife to lead the living to their doom.  
Most tales had little warrant for concern, some were intriguing only for the mystery they posed, rather then any danger. While the Reapers themselves were protected by military mechs, the rest of the ruins were unobstructed - anyone could venture down into them, provided they signed a waiver understanding that the Systems Alliance and the Eldfell-Ashland Energy (EAE) Corporation was in no way responsible for any injury or death suffered in the structures or the surrounding areas.

Nividia Kalrass, a Turian who had spent the last few years trying to forget the Reaper War and the horrors she had witnessed in it - would've never ventured to Therum simply because the monstrosities, while dead, still remained intact and probably would for a while. Her keen green eyes narrowed as she spotted the familiar silhouette protruding from it's grave, like it had decided to dig after the lost souls it hadn't been able to obtain.  
She held back a growl as she clicked her mask back in place and flicked up her hood, obstructing the view of her feminine face and hiding her eyes behind a glowing gold visor.  
She had been requested here by her old friend Faron Mel, a Volus merchant with a love for exploring and exploiting ancient ruins. While she had sworn off treasure hunting, when he had messaged her about a monster lurking in the dark depths of Therum's Prothean ruins, Nividia found herself curious.  
She had been aiding her people's continuing recovery efforts on Palaven, and initially had dismissed Faron's invitation. But when he replied, with supporting evidence of scientists and explorers disappearing or turning up dead in a section of ruins that the Systems Alliance deemed hazardous and had now quarantined, she gave the request another thought.  
Faron promised he could get her inside, and would pay her both for killing whatever monster that was terrorizing everyone, and for whatever relics she brought back.

Again, Nividia no longer sought fortune, but a monster? That intrigued her.

So, here she was. She hadn't worn her armour since the war ended - locking it up inside a vault in what remained of her home. She had worked closely with living friends and family to repair her house, half of it having paid the price when a Reaper of some design had stepped on it and caused the ceiling and outer wall to collapse inwards.  
When her younger sister Rylen, barely ten, had seen her retrieving her suit - she had been terrified.

"Are the Reapers back?" She was nearly in tears, "Do you have to fight?"  
Nividia had given Rylen a comforting hug and quieted her down. "No, the Reapers are dead." She had offered the little girl a smile. "Shepard killed them, all of them."

Nividia forced the thought of her sister to the back of her mind. Their parents had both died in the war - their mother, well she had told Rylen she had fought and died on Illium, when the reality was a cruel hardship.  
The last anyone had seen of Nividia's mother, she had been on Menae, willingly giving herself over to Reaper forces.  
Their father had been Captain of a turian destroyer that was lost during the final battle with the enemy over Earth. Apparently he had died a tried and true hero, managing to turn the tide of battle three times against different Reapers before he used his ship to intercept a strike meant for a wounded Alliance dreadnought.  
There were few survivors, one of them, a life-long old friend of the family had told Nividia that her father 'had died staring at a photo of his children.'

Nividia buried that thought too, as she approached the small but growing settlement of explorers and Alliance military personnel.

Most here were Human, no doubt due to the affiliation this planet had being under Systems Alliance jurisdiction. The houses that were being put up were easy-to-assemble shacks: four solid walls, bunk beds, a window to dissuade from the very apparent claustrophobic feel of the 'house.' Most wouldn't come with toilet facilities or a kitchen, larger public washrooms and soup-kitchens had their own buildings, scattered throughout the encampment.  
There were only a few Turians, they were all sitting with each other at a table, eating their lunch and paying no mind to anyone else. There was an Asari with a beautiful dark blue, almost violet skin tone who was amazing a few children with her biotic display.

Then, there was Faron.

Like all Volus, he was a short, stocky round character in a pressure suit. In his hands was a data pad, one that he was keenly interested in. So much so that he didn't see Nividia approaching, and let out a small yelp of surprise when he looked up and saw her golden visor arched down at him.  
"Oh," he breathed, "You're finally here."  
"Finally?" She retorted, crossing her arms. "I hopped on the quickest shuttle to this place."  
Faron scoffed at the idea, "Quick wasn't quick enough," he paused to take another breath. "I thought you weren't coming, so I hired another hunter to head down first."  
Even with the Turian's face hidden behind a mask, he knew she was glaring at him.  
"B-but," he stammered a little, "I can still get you in." He turned and pointed towards what looked like a vent sticking out of the ground. "Just, not how I originally intended."  
"Faron," Nividia growled, keenly unhappy with the idea. "I was under the impression that I was going down there through legal channels."  
"Well," Faron gave an shrug. "It's not like the pass I had was exactly..." he trailed off, took another breath and continued. "It doesn't matter, you can get in through that air-shaft."  
"Do I look like a duct-rat to you?" She snarled.  
Faron gestured for Nividia to follow him, and she obliged, they walked in silence until they reached what was presumably his home - one of the shacks, slightly larger then some, with a wide window pane for a view.  
As they stepped inside, Faron sat down in a short chair and looked up at her. "According to my scans," he clicked a small button on the arm of his seat and brought up a projection. "That shaft will carry you down inside the quarantined zone."  
"Why's it quarantined?"  
The Volus took in a sharp breath. "Alliance says that it's too close to the Reaper corpse, people who went in there," he inhaled again. "Complained about headaches mostly, but..." he trailed off, looking away. "A few, said they saw things in the corner of their eyes - monsters."  
Nividia removed her mask and hood, this was the first time he had seen in her years. There was a scar, running from the top of her forehead, down, tearing it's way down in what looked to be a painful fashion just by her left eye and then down across her cheek.  
She hadn't been so disfigured before the war, what had managed to get so close?  
"What," he hesitated, tilting his head. "What happened to your face?"  
Nividia's frown turned into a insulted scowl, made worse only by the jagged scar. "A brute."  
"A... uh..." He gave pause again. "A what?"  
"If you don't know what that is," she began, her tone terse. "Then I won't bother explaining it. Suffice to say, it makes a rampaging krogan look like a whining quarian."  
"Oh," another inhale.  
"I spent half a year fighting Reapers," she snarled. "Then, three years trying to forget what I saw." She inched closer, her entire posture threatening. "Then you invite me to Therum under the guise of hunting a creature, only to inform me that whatever said creature is, is in the quarantined zone - that happens to be locked down for a very good reason." Nividia glared. "Tell me there's at least a monster, or did you lie about that too?"  
"I didn't lie," he argued. "I told you the zone was locked down, and I told the truth about the monster - it's killing people."  
"You told me it was locked down because of the creature," Nividia retorted, her scowling lessening slightly. "Not because the zone happens to be right next to a derelict Reaper."  
"It's dead," Faron pointed out. "A dead Reaper isn't a threat."  
"Indoctrination is far more insidious then you give it credit for." The Turian sighed, and eyed the projection. "So you swear this monster is real?"  
"Real enough," the Volus tapped another button and brought up a series of files with people's photographs. "These people have all said they were stalked by a creature in the depths of the ruins." Faron pressed the button again and brought up another series of profiles. "These three are missing," with a swipe of his hand, another four files appeared. "These four, security mechs found dead."  
Nividia neared the projections of the four victims. One was a turian, male, and listed as an archaeologist, two were humans, both male, and were registered as colonists. The fourth was a quarian, female and she had been on her pilgrimage.  
"How long does it take for someone to turn up dead?" Nividia questioned, looking at her friend.  
"Most of the victims," he thought about it for a moment. "A week." With another few clicks he brought up the Turian's file. "He was missing the longest, nine days." Faron looked at Nividia. "He worked for me, I hired him because he had military training. After he turned up dead, the Alliance deemed that section of the ruins too hazardous and locked it down."  
Nividia's omnitool appeared and she quickly downloaded the files from Faron. "Who did you send before I got here?"  
"A human woman," the Volus answered, "she had an impressive record, and she's a veteran of the war - like you." Faron gave her a datapad. "If you see her down there, don't kill her. There's more then enough credits for both of you."

It wasn't hard finding a room, people were constantly coming and going from Therum, and with the apparent 'monster killings' on the rise, a good portion of settlers had changed their tunes and decided to try their luck on another world. The Alliance representative had been polite, informing the turian of the dangers of dig-sites and old Prothean structures, he even went to mentioning how certain parts of the ruins were sealed off for 'public safety.'

After he left, Nividia was quick to set up shop and look over the files.  
Of the three that were missing, if the pattern of a week held true, two of them would turn up dead soon. A human couple, married archeologists who the monitoring station lost contact with.  
Official reports stated that the couple allegedly found a way into the quarantined zone and ignored Alliance orders to leave the area. Mechs were sent in to find them, but so far - they hadn't turned up.  
The third individual was a krogan - he hadn't been so subtle with his attempts to get into the hazardous area, according to the report, he had simply rammed his way through and disappeared inside.

Night fell, and Nividia found it hard to sleep. Every time her eyes drifted shut, her mind would wander back to the war, she could practically taste the soot and ash that a blast from a Reaper would kick up, her nose burned and at times - the scar on her face ached and distantly she heard the roar of the creature that had given it. The galaxy wasn't the same, and it never would be. At best, people would try and pretend like it had never happened, but there would always be a reminder.  
It seemed like an injustice to everyone who died if people forgot. She understood why, no one wanted to recount on the days where giant war-machines terrorized the galaxy, harvesting and killing off entire populations. People don't want to remember the bad, even though the bad things in life often have the greatest lessons to teach.

The woman sighed in defeat, eventually, sleep claimed her.

She had never been to Earth before the final fight against the Reapers. She had seen in it vids, and had admired its beauty. It had vast oceans and green landscapes, it looked like a wondrous place to go. Nividia had thought to herself that if she survived the drop into hell, that maybe she'd come back to the human homeworld and see it after it had been restored.  
The ground forces were called Hammer, and through the chaos of anti-air blasts and flak from the enemy - her shuttle landed and her squad proceeded towards the Conduit.  
The sky overhead was dark, clouds of smoke and ash blocked out the stars above and soot and dust choked the air. Her squad consisted of five soldiers not including herself - a krogan, three humans and an asari.  
When they had finally reached the forward operating base, Nividia saw Shepard for the first time.

Commander Shepard stood in black armour, her helmet tucked underneath her arm as she met up with a few of her friends. Her hair was long and a brilliant, crimson shade. Standing next to her was an Asari, with glistening blue skin and clad in a white combat suit. Only an idiot would've ever called such a woman ugly, she was practically radiating an alluring aura and Nividia imagined any sentient the blue-skinned woman smiled at would've melted.  
Shepard turned only slightly, her eyes leaving the man she was talking too, to instead look in the turian's direction. Nividia froze, her body stiff as Shepard's viridian eyes locked with her own.

There was something haunting about the Commander's eyes, like she had seen far too much death in a minute amount of time. It was exhaustion, the Reapers had taken a devastating toll on the Commander, and she couldn't hide it. She was standing tall and keeping strong to motivate people around her.  
But if they caught Shepard in a moment of weakness, like Nividia had - they would see what her spirit was crying.

_I can't do this anymore._

Nividia's eyes slowly opened to welcome the faint rays of the rising sun. They hurt at first, stinging and making her flinch until she blinked the hazy sleep away and got up. She hadn't thought of Shepard in years, nor had she ever dreamed about the Commander. Every time the turian blinked she could see Shepard's haunting stare, until it faded away as the woman began to get ready.

She had a monster to kill.

When Faron had said the shaft would go right into the quarantined zone, he hadn't lied. Nividia slid down the piping until she landed a little roughly in an abandoned research room. There were chairs and computers, all covered in dust and powered down, documents and datapads strewn across the workspace like none of it had mattered.

Curiosity getting the better of her, Nividia picked up one of the datapads and tentatively tapped it's screen.  
It flickered with an orange, yellow hue before it activated and showed her a journal entry.

_November 7th_

That had been a month after the initial Reaper invasion, no doubt the scientists had hunkered down here in hopes of surviving and finding some sort of tidbit of information that would at least halt the enemy's advance.

Nividia read the entry, her eyes quickly scanning for relative information.

_We can hear it when it walks overtop of us. A soft boom, like distant thunder. But we know it's not, we know if we dared to venture to the surface, to chance a glance at the storm raging above, that we'll be dead before we could blink. One of those things had obliterated the capital, then another landed overtop the ruins._  
_They're searching._  
_All we can do is hope that we're hidden, hope that we ran deep enough so that they can never follow. We have enough supplies to last us years down here, and we have power._

The entry went on for a little while, mentioning small tidbits of what was happening in the galaxy, a few charts and graphs representing what they thought was an accurate recording of the war...  
Nividia spotted a small control panel on the far side and hurried for it, pressing her hand onto it's supposed sensor.  
Nothing.

"Apparently," she murmured, reaching over her shoulder and brandishing her rifle. "Someone turned off the power."  
With a quick click on the side of the Mattock rifle, a flashlight flickered on and illuminated the area in front of her.

The hunt had began.


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER TWO  
**

* * *

To say that the ruins were eerie when dark, would be a profound understatement. All Nividia heard was the clicking of her boots on the hard floor as she ventured further. This place was filled with a sort of ominous aura, like around every turn there was going to be a monster.

Despite being on a hunt, Nividia found herself much more inclined to search for the three lost people. Even if she just found one and got them out of this place, she'd feel a bit better. No doubt that was a left over from her time during the war, where she operated under the idea of 'no man left behind.'

There was a soft thump to her left and she swung around, barrel of the gun pointed down a collapsed hallway - with no real way to pass through.

Nividia's eyes narrowed a bit as she examined the hallway closer, deciding that it was nothing. She had been in tombs like this before, where every little noise seemed like it could be something shuffling around in the dark, but in reality - it was just the environment, something giving under the weight of whatever was over top of it.

It was odd to her that Faron hadn't gone to mentioning this section of the ruins was out of power. Maybe it had only recently gone dark, due to someone panicking or influenced by indoctrination.

Nividia thought of her mother briefly, then scowled and forced the thought from her mind.

Dragging up a thing like that, in a dark, foreboding area was a good way to get yourself killed. Not even from the monster, if there was one, but by simple accident. Thoughts like that would cause panic, and your mind would begin playing tricks on you. Something would go 'bang' and suddenly a usually level-headed person would run, sprinting down dark hallways and disappearing.

They'd become lost and eventually die.

Nividia found her way into another small office, this one was in shambles. There were old, dried up blood splatters on the wall, and near the corner - a large stain.  
Something terrible had happened in here, but as she neared the blood and scanned it with her omnitool, it revealed that it was too old to be from any of the victims.

"Reapers..." She murmured, scanning the room for anything else.

There was a dried blood trail leaving where the largest stain was, leaving little room to argue that the body had been dragged away, through a broken door and into the darkness.  
It wasn't uncommon for a type of Reaper troop called Cannibals to devour the bodies of their own and their enemies. Sometimes they would move the corpses, to eat them in the shadows where they were less likely to be disturbed.

Nivida frowned, eyeing the trail before she fiddled with a datapad.

We've locked down the ruins, though it will probably only slow the Reapers down. Still, maybe if we keep locking the doors behind us, they'll think the ruins were like this before we got here.

All we can do is hope...

On a lighter note, Dr. Ewas found something today - an obscure reference in the prothean database here that they might've found a species that's immune to indoctrination! If we can find any trace of this creature, it could turn the tide of the war, soldiers wouldn't have to worry about their comrades turning on them - and that would effectively cut down the Reapers' apparent limitless supply of troops.

Dr. Ewas has taken a small team far down into the base of the structure, he says there's a vague reference to a lab deep below.

God I hope he finds something, otherwise we might lose the war...

The turian's confused expression was hidden behind her mask, she didn't know what to think. A creature that was immune to indoctrination? How was that even possible? She frowned, shaking her head as she put the datapad down and focused the light on the trail.

If there was any creature like that, then the protheans would've won their cycle, and the galaxy would be a different place entirely. She kept scanning the hallways, the trail she was following went quite a ways before it slunk into a broken open vent and disappeared.

"Poor bastard..." She murmured, changing direction and continuing.

The turian found little else interesting until she reached a bulkhead door. It had been shut, lowered down in place from the panel on the other side, and on any other occasion - it would've meant the end of her exploration.  
Only this door had been smashed open, the strong metal was melted, shredded and bent outwards, towards the encroaching turian. Nividia frowned, and glanced back the way she came.

A brute had more then enough strength to bash down any door given enough time, but what troubled her was the melting and that it was forced outwards. This was deeper into the complex - if it had been a brute, wouldn't it have been broken inwards? Maybe there was another entrance, but her scans and the information provided by Faron was that there was only one way in, and the Alliance was guarding it.

"Faron," she spoke into comm.  
"Ah," she could hear the hope in his voice. "Have you um, killed it yet?"  
"No." Nividia scowled, "is there any other way into this part of the structure?"  
There was a brief silence, maybe Faron was checking over the maps. "No, why?"  
Nividia eyed the bulkhead door and tightened her grip on her gun. "Just curious... have you heard from your other hunter?"  
"Last time she checked in, she was looking for a power nodule." Faron stated. "She said it's um, pretty dark down there."  
The turian nodded, the other hunter wasn't wrong there.  
"Be careful Nividia," Faron said, with a faint hint of actual concern. "Alliance mechs found the Earth clan... it wasn't, um... pleasant."

Nividia opened her mouth to respond, but found herself interrupted when something let our a terrible shriek. Years of training and instinct kicked in, before the woman could even fathom a reply - she was gone. She nimbly leapt through the hole in the broken doorway and sprinted down the corridor, flicking her light left and right to try and find any clue as to where the cry had come from.  
She skidded to a halt and ducked behind a corner when she caught sight of blood. She took a quick glance and then came out of hiding, rifle at the ready as she approached the small pool.  
It was a strange mix of yellow and orange, not natural to human, turian, asari...

"Krogan..." she murmured, looking for any other signs of the lost man. There were splatters on the wall, but those were mixed in with a darker blue substance, one the hunter didn't recognize.

She paused only for a moment, taking a quick bio-scan of the darker liquid, then followed the small drops on the floor, until they lead her to a room at the end of a short hallway. The door was sealed shut, though apparently someone had decided to try and bash it inwards. Nividia frowned, prothean's hadn't messed around when building this place - it wasn't easy to bend or break these barriers, but apparently someone was stomping around, doing it anyway.  
Nividia spotted the intercom button next to the door and pressed it, speaking into it clearly.

"Is anyone in there?"

Silence was all that answered her. She frowned, eyeing the door again for a way in. She heard something move on the other side, but the doorway didn't open.

"Alright, have it your way." Nividia released the button, she wasn't being paid to be given the silent treatment.  
"Wait," a gruff, deep voice responded. "Who are you?"  
"Nividia," she responded.  
"Nividia?" There was a slight pause. "Sounds turian..."  
"That's because I am." She frowned a little at his tone.  
The door groaned as it slowly opened, straining as the bend threatened to make the normally sliding door grind to a halt. The gap opened just enough for the woman to squeeze inside. The room was as dark as the rest of the complex, the only thing illuminating it was Nividia's flashlight, which quickly fell upon the wounded, heaving Krogan in the back corner, shotgun in his grasp.

His face was torn up, four fresh claw marks raked downwards, carving out deep gashes on the black crest of his forehead then down his actual face. Already the wounds were beginning to congeal, but it was obvious that the attack had been bad. Luckily, whatever had attacked the man had missed his wide-set eyes, which were now solely focused on Nividia.  
"Are you alright?" She neared him, bringing out from her suit pocket a sealed container of medi-gel.  
The krogan snatched it greedily, but instead of slathering the substance on his torn up face, he broke the seal and poured the thick liquid into a nasty stab wound in his mid-section. He growled, not at her, but at the pain as the wound began to heal at an astounding rate.

"Graaahh..." Was his initial response, not bothering to wince as pain shot through him. He eyed her inquisitively, tilting his enormous head. "What's a turian doin' done here? Arn't you guys all for rules and regulations? Or did the Alliance give you some special pass?"  
She frowned, admittedly had things gone correctly, that would've been true. "I'm hunting something."  
The man let out a exasperated huff, though it was clear he was recovering. His eyes didn't have any haze over them, they were crystal clear. "Ah... the monster... right?"  
Nividia nodded, watching as he slowly stood. "Is that what attacked you?"  
He nodded. "I was told there was something stalkin' scientists in these ruins, something only a krogan could kill."  
She nodded slightly, "You hunt for sport?"  
He laughed, thumping his large hands on his chest. Clearly his body had already healed the worst of his wounds. "Ha! I hunt for the challenge, not the credits." He grinned, bearing his teeth. "Name's Verrok."  
She smiled in the slightest. "Well," she picked up the shotgun he has left discarded on the floor and handed to him. "Seems like we have a common enemy.."  
He spoke, his voice having a definite rumble to it. "I think you'll live long enough to be a help." He extended his hand.  
She snorted, giving him an indignant frown from underneath her helm then grasped his hand firmly and shook. "Thanks."

Verrok had been down in the ruins for nearly a week. He had, by his own admission, learnt a lot about the complex by simple trial and error. When she had inquired about what that meant, he bluntly put that he had gotten lost multiple times. There had been a few times he joked, that maybe the creature stalking the dark halls had simply watched in amusement.  
The turian had chuckled at the thought; a massive, impressive looking krogan muttering curses to himself as he stomped around in a preverbal circle. Verrok led the way for most the venture, pointing out room after room of dead ends and powered down equipment.  
But there was one room he had wanted to show her. It had dim lighting, barely enough to cast the area in a warm, yellow-gold glow. Nividia scanned through the various datapads strewn about, but nothing seemed relevant.

"Here," he gestured for her to come over, and typed away on a console. "You need to see this."

Both stood before a large view-screen of security camera footage: there were numerous scientists standing in a lit room, all fascinated by a giant pulsating cube. They were chatting amongst themselves, looking anxiously between their colleagues then the box.

Verrok pointed to the cube. "That's a stasis-cell," he growled. "Prothean design."

Nividia tilted her head. "It's huge."

"Just wait," Verrok tapped on the control panel. "Listen to this,"

_"We can't get it open," a female scientist spoke, clearly upset. "It was sealed by a VI that's corrupted and gone."  
"If we reset the system, it should unlock." A man spoke.  
"Dr. Ewas?"  
Everyone looked towards the older gentleman for guidance. He was staring long and hard at the stasis-chamber. "If we reset the system, it could kill the specimen inside."  
There was silence as the woman checked over the computer system. "There's no vitals, whatever's inside is already dead."  
Dr. Ewas paced a little. "You're sure?"  
"Yes Doctor."  
"Then prepare for the reset, every minute we waste debating, the Reapers claim a thousand more lives."  
_  
The recording flickered as Verrok sped through a portion, he glanced at the woman. "They don't do much for three hours, I was stupid enough to watch the whole thing... never been so bored in my life." He paused as the group of researchers gathered again. "This is it."

As the recording began again, Dr. Ewas nodded to one of his associates and then the lights went out. When the power flicked back on, everyone was dead.

The room was a sea of body parts and blood. Nividia grimaced, even through the camera, it was a grisly scene. Dr. Ewas got the worst of it, his face was gone, claw marks much the same as the ones that now marked Verrok, but Dr. Ewas wasn't a krogan.  
A human didn't have the same protective plating and tough skin and bone. Nothing was left of his face except a disgusting mess.

"Spirits," Nividia felt her mandibles twitch the slightest. "I know that doctor, he was mentioned in a researcher's journal entries."  
Verrok looked over to her. "Entries?"  
She nodded quickly. "He was venturing down here to find a specimen the protheans happened upon." she looked back at the krogan. "According to the journals, he found a bit of information in the prothean database that this organism was immune to indoctrination."  
Verrok glanced back at the video. "It didn't warn him it was deadly?"  
Nividia tried to ignore the ominous feel in the air as she replied quietly, "apparently not."

"Come on," Verrok snorted, and gestured towards the security room door. "The system doesn't have enough power to play any other feed, it'll just keep looping that video over and over."  
The turian followed close behind, it was somewhat of a comfort to have someone else around. All this while she had been fighting a feeling paranoia, like something had been stalking her. It was still present, but it was lessened by the fact that there was a massive beast of a man next to her, shotgun at the ready.

"What did it look like?" She broke the silence.  
Verrok was quiet for a moment, reflecting on the encounter. "Big - even for me. I didn't get a good look at it, bastard attacked me from behind." He checked his gun. "But it hit like a thresher maw, and didn't seem to give a damn when I swung around and bashed it with the butt of my gun."  
It was hard to imagine any creature not budging when a krogan struck them. Even in the Reaper War, monsters like the brutes or even a Cerberus Atlas would give a few inches to an angry krogan slam. Verrok was also particular large for a krogan, easily the size of the famous Urdnot clan leader.  
Verrok grumbled as he spoke, "It raked it's claws across my face, I couldn't see shit. So I just pressed the barrel of my gun against whatever the hell was attacking me and shot." He cringed. "It screamed, I think. It stabbed me in my gut and ran. Coward can't stand it when someone fights back." He snorted, "It's got some sort of glow to it though, I watched it run this way."  
"It glows?"  
He gave a unconcerned shrug. "I remember seeing two long stripes of blue in the dark. Not even the blood in my eyes could hide it."

Verrok lead the way through the dark corridors, easily navigating the maze of corridors and hallways until he slowed. He had his gun up, the light on the end of his weapon revealing the widening walkway. He flared his nostrils, taking in the strange scents and then cautiously stepped forward. Nividia brought up the rear, rifle at the ready at any sign of movement.  
This part of the complex felt weird, like the air was heavy and thick with hate. She could tell that Verrok felt it too, his jaw was clenched and he had gone quiet. The duo moved forward in complete silence, until the faint echoes of something dripping met their ears.

"Water?" Nividia questioned, more to herself then Verrok.  
"Hope so," the man replied, tightening his hold on his gun. "It's that, or somethin' is drooling."

It wasn't too long before they found the source of the dripping - water was running down from a broken ceiling, panels above them have crumpled and given in, and one wall had bent and buckled. Nividia broke away from her Krogan companion, lowering her mattock slightly.  
"The creature didn't do this," she turned to look at Verrok. "Did it?"  
"No," the krogan hunter growled, large eyes scanning the area before he pushed past her and carefully slunk through the collapsing hallway. "Something bigger did."

While Verrok had to almost wedge his way through, Nividia's smaller, far more agile frame made it easier for her to almost hop through. She came out the other side, and immediately saw what her companion had been speaking of.

A single, massive Reaper appendage had broken through this section. In the light their guns provided, it had a dark iridescent complexion, shining from a deep blue to a plum shade, with the occasional fleck of a sharp, turquoise. Nividia had never been so close to one of the ships before, tentatively, she reached out and touched it. Through the flexible weave of her combat-suit, she could feel the tiny bumps that dotted the warship's surface.

This explained the strange feeling in air around here, and probably the penetrating paranoia of the entire complex.

"What're ya, indoctrinated?" Verrok snarled, snorting with obviously disapproval at the space-invader. "How many people you think this thing killed?"  
Nividia's omnitool appeared and she quickly scanned the once sentient spacecraft. "Hundreds of thousands," she replied coolly, glancing at the krogan. "I've never been this close to one, I've only ever seen a capital ship from afar."  
Verrok gave another disapproving snort. "So you have to touch it?"  
Despite her face being hidden, Verrok knew he had received a scornful glare from his ally.  
"You're saying you didn't?"  
The krogan gave a throaty chortle. "Didn't say that.."

As they continued, Nividia glanced back at the arm. She wondered briefly, if that had been the monster to twist her mother's mind and claim her. Was a half disintegrated husk of her loved one lying inside? Unrecognizable in all accounts, but somehow, Nividia knew if she found her mother's synthetic body, lying dead in some terrible place...

She'd know it was here, and maybe she'd finally put that ghost to rest.


	3. Chapter 3

_In regards to the reviews I have received – thank you very much, it's always motivating to read other people's thoughts on how the tale is progressing. I am very thankful for the criticism, and I will strive to improve. _

**_Digital Storm_**_ – __Thank you for the comment. _

**_Thebluninja_**_ – __In regards for Therum being uninhabited, I believed the same thing until I just happened to look the planet up just to jog my memory. While its capital probably doesn't nearly compare to other planets, it did have one. _

_In regards to the paragraph spacing, it wasn't me! It seems when I c+p my story's chapters into the doc manager while using my iPad – it causes things to go astray. I've switched now to my laptop, hopefully that clears up the problem. This is the last chapter to be brought over from the iPad, everything after this will be written on my laptop (God willing it doesn't die)._

_I will neither confirm or deny your suspicions on the monster. :)_

* * *

**CHAPTER THREE**

* * *

Past the lifeless Reaper, the duo had chosen to duck inside a small office to take a rest. Verrok groaned as he sat down, his body still aching from the attack. Nividia's curiosity made her explore, she attempted to power up various computers and terminals before grudgingly accepting that there just wasn't enough juice to get anything going.  
What was odd was the distinct hum, barely audible - which was the sound of electricity running somewhere. It was quite possible that it was the result from the other huntress, as Faron had said she had gone to find the power core in an attempt to restore lighting.  
The turian cracked her neck, placing her rifle neatly down on the table. She shuffled through a few papers before she found a datapad. It was alight with an orange glow, displaying all sorts of information.  
"What's that?" Verrok asked somewhere curious. Most of his attention was on fixing a piece of his chest plate that was threatening to come loose.  
"Another journal," she replied, "listen to this -  
"The closer we get to the specimen, the more this infernal VI seems to slow us down. No doubt there's been years of degradation to its systems, but the most any other VIs have ever done was advised us to reconsider.  
This one actually locked us out of the lower labs.  
We've managed to isolate most of it, Dr. Ewas is suggesting we just take it fully offline - he said we don't need it potentially activating a latent defence system. Apparently there's been at least one instance where a scientist got trapped in a prison-sphere in these ruins and had to be rescued."

"Huh," Verrok crossed his arms, "looks like they ignored the warning label."  
"They were desperate," Nividia pointed out, putting down the pad. "Imagine how that could've changed the war."  
The krogan snorted, "Cost them their lives instead," he recalled the video. "Not in a pleasant way either."  
She looked at the man, mulling over the facts. "We need to restore that VI."  
"Why?" he questioned, "Sounds like its irritating."  
"Probably," she sat down next to him, checking over her rifle idly. "But it knew about the monster, maybe it could tell us how to stop it."  
"Maybe, but it sounds like it was just there to prevent its release, and I doubt there's a customer service number we could call for a return." Verrok joked, inspecting his shotgun. Nividia only now took in how large the thing actually was.  
It was the M-300 Claymore, a ridiculously powerful shotgun that initially broke the bones of the user if they were anyone but a krogan. There was a newer model circulating the galaxy now, safer and much more accessible to the other species, but it seemed Verrok had kept the old version. It was red, with dents and scratches.  
"It survived that?" She gestured to the gun, Verrok nodded slowly.  
"Not much can live through a krogan with a claymore," he flared his nostrils. "Apparently this thing can, well enough to run away."  
Nividia activated her omnitool again, and gave a quick call to the surface. "Faron."  
There was a long pause, before the distinct breathing from a volus was heard. _"Still alive, that's good."_  
Verrok and Nividia glanced at each other. The turian shrugged. "Volus humour?"  
The krogan went back to his gun. "They're only funny if you use them as a cannonball." Despite the silence, Verrok chuckled to himself. "Heh heh… good times..."  
_"Ah,"_ the volus wavered a little_. "You, uh, found the krogan?"_  
"Yes," she replied, "Faron, can you put me in contact with the other hunter?"  
_"I'll send you the frequency."_ He replied, and shortly after there was a beep. _"Have you made any progress?"  
_"A little," Nividia thought about the surveillance video. "It was a creature the protheans originally discovered, and then a human scientist during the war freed it from stasis."  
"Yeah," Verrok interjected, "Then everyone was torn to pieces."  
_"Oh..."_ Faron mulled over this new information_. "Well... I'm afraid I have more bad news..."  
_"There's a surprise…" The krogan snorted.  
The turian fought back a scowl. "What is it?"  
_"Alliance,"_ the volus began_. "They've sent someone, a shuttle dropped off a soldier about an hour ago."  
_"Pardon?" Nividia questioned, as her companion glanced at her. He was as confused as she was. "A single soldier?"  
_"Yes,"_ Faron replied_. "But - I think it was someone,_" he took a breath. _"Important."_  
"Even better," Verrok stood. "Some hotshot, Alliance probably thinks it's just a left over brute or something."  
Nividia frowned, "We're going to continue our hunt, I'll let you know if we run into the Alliance."  
_"Alright,"_ the volus had a tone of anxiety. _"Don't, um, mention me."_

Nividia cut the call and looked over at Verrok. "I guess they're taking this seriously."  
The krogan looked far from happy, his brilliant red eyes were narrowed and he was gritting his teeth. "We need to turn the power back on," he stated, with no room for debate. "We need to talk to that VI before the Alliance gets involved."  
"Don't care for the Alliance?"  
Verrok shrugged his massive shoulders, checking his ablative plating again before rising and stomping towards the door. "Krogans don't much care for laws, 'specially ones made by other species."  
"You think this soldier is going to try and stop us?"  
"No doubt," he looked back at her, a small, menacing smile creeping across his face. "I welcome him to try."

Nividia rolled her eyes, summoning her omnitool again as she tried the frequency Faron had transmitted to her. "Hello?"  
Silence answered, Verrok shrugged. "Dead maybe?"  
A rather cold voice responded, _"Who is this?"_  
"Nividia," she responded, "I was invited here by Faron Mel."  
_"You're the other hunter."  
_The way the mysterious voice spoke of Nividia, gave the turian a distinct chill. It wasn't uncommon for mercenaries and bounty hunters to dislike others in their own field, but this woman clearly had a larger issue.  
Verrok chuckled. "I guess she doesn't like competition.."  
"Who are you?" The turian agreed with Verrok's assessment, nodding towards him.  
_"Sabine."_  
"Faron said you're trying to restore power," Nividia was ignoring the woman's unwelcoming tone.  
_"I was but there's no point,"_ the woman responded. _"Lines are fried; hardly any power would be restored."_  
"We need them on," Verrok interjected, his rumbling tone leaving no room to argue.  
Honestly, Nividia thought that Sabine was just going to cut the feed, hanging up on them and leaving everyone literally in the dark. Instead though, the other hunter responded.  
_"Why?"  
_"The Alliance sent someone," Nividia scowled. "Something tells me you'd rather get paid then arrested; if we work together we can be out of here before their guy finds any of us."  
There was a pause. _"Then why the need for power, all the shutdown doors and terminals would slow the Alliance down."_  
"There's a VI that the scientists took offline, it has information on the creature we're hunting - maybe it knows how to kill it." The turian replied, a little hastily. They didn't have the time to just wander around talking. "Verrok and I will find the VI hub; you can meet us there, just turn on the damn power."  
_"Fine."_

The line went silent, Verrok looked glanced at Nividia. "My guess she was raised by batarians."

"With that attitude," Nividia took point. "I thought maybe krogan."

"Ha ha…" The man snickered, "Careful turian, I was just startin' to like you."

* * *

Sabine hadn't liked the idea of being second choice, when the volus had initially approached her - he had given her the impression that she had been his top pick, his only pick. Shortly thereafter, Faron had revealed that he had intended on sending a turian instead, one that he had history with.  
Though she had hid it well, the idea had irked her.

Had she not been sorrily short on credits, Sabine would've refused the job. There were too many variables, and the monster wasn't even her highest concern.  
Indoctrination was.  
As much as Faron liked to think a dead Reaper was harmless, he was far from right. Their mind-altering signal never seemed to disappear, and short of erecting a giant force field around each and every carcass, there was no way to stop it.

Therum wasn't a high priority, no government was about to waste man power on this place when there were still heavy restoration happening on their larger colony worlds, or in some cases, home planets.  
Indoctrination alone was enough to put Sabine off the job, but debts had to be paid, and some debts couldn't wait. Then there was the case of additional hunters - Faron had admitted to inviting the turian, but a krogan? She scowled, hurrying back the way she had come, Carnifex pistol in hand - just in case.  
Splitting a job was painful enough two ways, but three?  
She thought briefly that maybe she'd get lucky and one of them would die. Hell maybe both, then the pay would all go to her instead.  
Ignoring the smaller issues of possibly getting lost, starvation or dehydration - there was an entirely new problem.

The Alliance had decided it actually cared.

Nividia had said one soldier, now while that didn't seem like a large issue, they know that there's a Reaper here, dead or not, they know people have been dying. They're not just going to send some new recruit down and hope they survive. They're going to send someone who at least has some semblance of a clue to what's going on. Meaning if she and the others didn't hurry, they'd all be under arrest and none of them would get paid.

Some debts also didn't care if you were incarcerated.

The worst possible thing she could do here, is rush. Cutting corners, coming up with half-assed plans and ideas, and trying to watch someone's back when you were in a hurry was difficult. People died when things were rushed.

But that's what it was coming down too.

Sabine checked another corner; the only good news at the moment was she wasn't too far from the power room. Most of the walls around her had bulk heads carrying heavy wiring and cables. She stepped out from the corner and hurried back the way she came, checking the intersections and corridors before she reached a massive door.

It was stuck halfway open, with just enough room for her lithe frame to slink through.

"Grrooaa..."

The sound froze Sabine to her very core. It was a deep, rumbling growl that was reminiscent of overhead thunder. Her hand immediately tightened its grip on the carnifex, and she swung around. In the darkness, there wasn't much to see. There was an odd blue glow down the hall she had come; the light cast from her torch almost seemed to hinder her ability to see whatever it was rather then aid.  
Instinct taking over, she fired. Three loud bangs rang out, the first blatantly missed, bouncing harmlessly off of the hallway's wall, but the second and third hit something. Her target let out a roar, which was followed by the pounding of heavy feet running off, out of sight.

Sabine's heart felt like it was trying to burst out of her chest, it's beating so loud that it deafened her to everything else. The human forced herself to blink, keeping her pistol trained on the small opening; she side stepped, and smashed her fist into the terminal.

Her omnitool briefly glowed, causing the massive generators to sputter to life and give light to the room. The electricity surging through the mass of cables and wiring hummed, drowning out her subsided heartbeat.  
The stuck door slid shut, sealing the room off from the rest of the facility.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Sabine contacted Nividia.  
"Done."  
_"We're almost there, sending you the coordinates… did something roar?"_  
The human grimaced a little. "It was here."  
_"Are you alright?"_  
The turian's concern surprised Sabine.  
_"Hello?"_  
Sabine brushed some stray locks of hair behind her ear, she frowned. "I'm fine."  
_"Be careful,"_ the krogan's voice came through the comm_. "Thing like's to attack when you're least expecting-"  
_  
There was a tremendous bang behind her, and Sabine swung around. The other entrance, the heavy door was being bashed inwards. There was another slam and the door bent slightly inwards, and the woman hurried to the sealed doorway she had come through

The console on the door beeped, then flashed red. The surge of power fried it's controls.

The door was jammed.

_"Sabine?"_ Nividia spoke over the comm. _"Are you alright?"_

She pivoted on her heel, watching the opposing entrance in awe and horror. She could smell something; she could taste it on her tongue. It was bitter and terrible and -

The bent bulkhead was beginning to glow a dim orange.

"I'm fine." Sabine cut off the feed and pressed her back up against the wall.

It was heating up the door; it was trying to melt its way through.

How?

If it smashed that door again, it would give. The metal was compromised now, and everything made sense from what she had seen down here. Melted doors and blockades, burnt bodies, and industrial strength pillars and gutters ripped to shreds. It hadn't been Reaper forces that damaged the complex, they probably never made it down this far.

The war had never made it this deep, it hadn't needed too.

The monster shrieked, and there was a horrendous crash, metal groaned and gave, chunks of the stubborn door flew into the room and slammed into the hard floor.

With no option left to her, Sabine open fired.


End file.
